Business Essays Company Strategy Business

Business Essays Company Strategy Business Company Strategy Business Your company has a clear goal and a solid strategy you have the right people in the right places you have great ideas and the resources to execute them. So does your competition. Over the past decades, the role of economic organizations in society has been approached from various perspectives and alternative conceptualizations of business have been introduced (Grant, 2005; Skurnik, 2005). The traditional idea of business is that an efficient organization is formed to produce profit (Ansoff, 1965; Drucker, 1958). Lately, the concept of business, including the objectives and strategies of business companies, has been dominated by the idea of profit maximation for investor owners (Grant, 2005). Strategic management researchers have been proponents of the theory that provide support to the relationship between the environment, firm strategy, structure, and performance. Several management researchers of the likes of Dill (1958), Chandler (1962), Lawrence Lorsch (1967), Jurkovich (1974), Miles Snow (1978), Porter (1980, 1985), Bourgeois (1980, 1981), Hambrick (1981, 1983), Dess Davis (1984), Dess and Beard (1984), Mintzberg (1988), Miller (1986), Hamel Prahalad (1991), Kotha Valdamani (1995), and others have directly or indirectly made attempts to theorize the effects of single or multiple constructs, visvis the firm environment, strategy, and structure on firm performance. These efforts have led to the incremental development of the strategic management literature that stress on the relationships between the constructs mentioned above. The levels of strategy, i.e. corporate level, business level, and functional level have been defined by management theorists in order to identify and conceptualize the differences in approach in managing firms across these levels of company hierarchy. Corporate level strategies focus on what businesses should the company invest in, in order to satisfy the interests of the stakeholders and to maximize the value of stockholders investments. The focus here is on issues pertaining to firm growth and liquidity (e.g. Kim, Mauer, Sherman, 1998), which influence stockholders satisfaction. On the other hand, business level strategies entail ways in which a company would seek to attain competitive advantage through effective positioning. It should be noted that these positioning strategies of companies would vary depending on the industry setting (Hill Jones, 1995). In corporate finance, although business level strategies are not defined as positioning strategies, the objectives of these strategies and their effects are considered within the diversification and liquidity concepts of corporate strategies. The objective of functional level strategies is to achieve competitive advantage through strategies directed at improving the effectiveness of functional operations within a company (Hill Jones, 1995; p. 12). Note that in corporate finance the functional level strategies are considered as aggregates reported as part of the financial statements of individual business units, which are then analyzed in connection to the corporate strategies. It should also be noted that the business and functional strategies are impacted by the way in which corporate strategies are formulated. Although it may be argued that a bottom-up approach of defining functional level and business level strategies will not entail the effects of corporate strategies on functional and business level strategies, in reality firms define their resource allocation strategies first by taking into consideration the effects of these strategies on overall corporate performance. Once the resource allocation decisions are formulated at the corporate level, managers at the business level can then identify the appropriate strategies to meet the objectives laid out by managers at the corporate level. Management theorists have suggested that in order to achieve competitive advantage, the firm should achieve a fit between the environment, strategy, structure and controls (Jennings Lumpkin, 1992). Effective strategy formulation and implementation lead to the attainment of performance objectives identified by the stakeholders of the firm. Whereas the concept of fit between the environment and strategy is important in order to achieve competitive success, Hamel Prahalad (1991) suggested that strategic intent is the key to achieving success as compared to strategic fit, the paradigm that most management theorists followed until the late eighties. The authors suggest that strategic intent is about building new resources and competencies to tap future opportunities as opposed to the strategic fit perspective of achieving a fit between existing company resources and current environment opportunities. Hierarchical Levels of Strategy Corporate Level Strategy The corporate level strategy entails decisions made by corporate managers to insure that company stakeholders are satisfied at all times. With this as the goal, the managers at the corporate level of company hierarchy decide to invest in business(es) that result in long-term profit maximization and increased returns to the firms stockholders. Corporate strategies entail two distinct dimensions that include measures pertaining to growth (Zook Rogers, 2001) and liquidity (Kim et al., 1998). Corporate managers decide what businesses to invest in and how liquid the assets of the firm should be to maximize the value of the firm, both in the short and long term scenario. Business Level Strategy Business level strategy applies to the unit level of the organization and is referred to as those strategies that are applied at the strategic business unit (SBU) level. SBU level strategy is formulated and implemented by business level managers, who are also referred to as unit level managers or general managers. While this may be the case in the manufacturing industries, the hospitality industry general manager does not necessarily formulate these strategies, rather they are instrumental in the implementation of the strategy. The formulation of business level strategies is entailed in the corporate strategy when the corporate managers define the positioning of the firm. Since business level strategy is a result of market segmentation and positioning strategies, the generic strategies of cost leadership, differentiation, and focus (Porter, 1980) result from the way corporate managers conceive the orientation and positioning of the product during the time of its inception. This logic also applies to the Miles Snows typology of prospector, defender, analyzer, and reactor. These generic typologies are a result of the corporate level managers positioning strategies, and the budget allocated to the units to pursue that strategy. In this regard, the hospitality industry is different from the manufacturing industry in terms of the distinction between the three levels of strategy. There is an overlap in the decisions made at the three levels, with the corporate level influencing the decisions of the unit level and the functional level. This may not be apparent by scrutinizing the organizational structure; rather, this results from the job responsibilities that are entrusted to the different levels of management hierarchy, especially the business and functional level. Functional Level Strategy Functional level strategies are those strategies that are initiated by the profit /support centres of an organization. These centres are individual functions that result when activities that are similar in their characteristics and objectives are grouped under a given function. Each separate function should have its own goal and objective, and functional managers formulate strategies to attain those goals and objectives. To be competitively superior to other firms, functional level managers strategize to attain superior efficiency, superior quality, superior customer responsiveness, and superior innovation (Hill Jones, 1995). Although hospitality researchers have posited that manufacturing based strategy theory may not be applicable to the hospitality industry (Murthy, 1994), it can be argued that strategies professed by management theorists have been generalized to apply to any given industry. Strategy has been defined very distinctly in strategic management theory. For instance, according to Chandler (1962), strategy is the determination of basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals. Hofer Shendel (1978) defined strategy as the match among organizational purposes, resources, skills, environment opportunities and risks. Similarly, Thompson Strickland (1981) defined strategy as the manner in which an organization accomplishes its objectives through the formulation of means, matching and allocating resources, and directing its effort to produce results. On the other hand, Bourgeois (1978) defined strategy in terms of a firms relationship with the environment to achieve its objectives, while Mintzberg (1981) defined the term as a pattern in a stream of decisions or actions. These definitions are important for the literature as it defines the domain of strategy in terms of its literal meaning as well as the direction of research efforts that it influences. Although the above definitions of strategy may differ in literal meaning, the underlying theme common to all is the ability of the organization to meet its objectives by directing its efforts in a resourceful manner, aligning them to the developments in the external environment. Having identified this theme in the definition of strategy, it becomes essential to identify whether each individual research domain within the field is a proponent of this ideology professed by eminent researchers. To do so, it is essential to pinpoint the orientations of the sub-domains in the field of strategy.Strategy, in general, refers to how a given objective will be achieved. Consequently, strategy in general is concerned with the relationships between ends and means, that is, between the results we seek and the resources at our disposal. Strategy and tactics are both concerned with formulating and then carrying out courses of action intended to attain particular objectives. For the most part, strategy is concerned with deploying the resources at your disposal whereas tactics is concerned with employing them. Together, strategy and tactics bridge the gap between ends and means .Strategy of an organization is the roadmap towards attainment of its long term goals and objectives. Organizational strategy consists of planning, organizing, execution, and control activities. Strategic management process facilitates in the operationalization of strategy. Strategic thinking has been much influenced by military thinking about the strategy hierarchy of goals, policies and programmes. Strategy itself sets the agenda for future action, strategic goals state what is to be achieved and when (but not how), policies set the guidelines and limits for permissible action in pursuit of the strategic goals, and programmes specify the step-by-step sequence of actions necessary to achieve major objectives and the timetable against which progress can be measured. A well defined strategy integrates an organizations major plans, objectives, policies and programmes and commitments into a cohesive whole. It marshals and allocates limited resources in the best way, which is defined by an analysis of a firms unique strengths and weaknesses and of opportunities and threats in the environment. It considers how to deal with the potential actions of intelligent opponents. The importance of strategic management for the development of regions is growing, together with the effort of the regional representatives to increase the performance and competitive advantage of their regions. Individual countries, regions, cities, and towns compete among each other especially in the acquisition of economic subjects, which create and stabilize new jobs, thereby influencing prosperity and the standard of living of their residents. Strategy choice is a component of strategy formulation that entails identifying the strategic alternatives in tandem with the firms strengths and weaknesses. Since strategy is about identifying the appropriate courses of action, these alternatives vary depending on the hierarchical levels of the organization confirmed by, for instance, Hofer Shendel (1979), who point out that strategy content varies with the level of organizational hierarchy. The hierarchical levels identified by various management theorists in the strategy domain are functional level, business level, and corporate level strategies (Hill Jones, 1995) . The strategic management model suggests that intended strategy is an outcome of certain distinct actions taken by firms. These actions can be categorized as the product of a firms external analysis and internal analysis (Hill Jones, 1995). The external analysis is about understanding the firms external environment to identify opportunities and threats. This analysis includes analyzing the firms remote environment domain, task environment domain, and industry environment domain in order to identify the forces driving change and their impact on the organization during a given time period (Olsen et al., 1998). On the other hand, the internal analysis entails pinpointing what the strengths and weaknesses of the firm are in order to identify the quantity and quality of resources available to the organization (Hill Jones, 1995). The concept that entails analyzing the firms external and internal environment and subsequently identifying the appropriate strategy comes under the strategy formulation sub-domain of strategy research. On the other hand, the sub-domain that deals with designing organizational systems and structures in order to put the strategy into action is termed as strategy implementation. There are three levels of strategies in the organization viz. corporate strategy, business strategy, and functional strategy. The term strategy proliferates in discussions of business. Scholars and consultants have provided myriad models and frameworks for analysing strategic choice (Hambrick and Fredrickson, 2001). For us, the key issue that should unite all discussion of strategy is a clear sense of an organizations objectives and a sense of how it will achieve these objectives. It is also important that the organization has a clear sense of its distinctiveness. For the leading strategy guru, Michael Porter (1996), strategy is about achieving competitive advantage through being different delivering a unique value added to the customer, having a clear and enactable view of how to position yourself uniquely in your industry, for example, in the ways in which Southwest Airlines positions itself in the airline industry and IKEA in furniture retailing, in the way that Marks Spencer used to. To enact a successful strategy requires that there is fit among a companys activities, that they complement each other, and that they deliver value to the firm and its customers. The three companies we have just mentioned illustrate that industries are fluid and that success is not guaranteed. Two of the firms came to prominence by taking on industry incumbents and developing new value propositions. The third was extremely successful and lost this position. While there is much debate on substance, there is agreement that strategy is concerned with the match between a companys capabilities and its external environment. Analysts disagree on how this may be done. John Kay (2000) argues that strategy is no longer about planning or visioning because we are deluded if we think we can predict or, worse, control the future it is about using careful analysis to understand and influence a companys position in the market place. Another leading strategy guru, Gary Hamel (2000), argues that the best strategy is geared towards radical change and creating a new vision of the future in which you are a leader rather than a follower of trends set by others.The idea of strategy has received increasing attention in the management literature. The literature on strategy is now voluminous and strategic management texts grow ever larger to include all the relevant material. Our premise is that a firm needs a well defined sense of its mission, its unique place in its environment and scope and direction of growth. Such a sense of mission defines the firms strategy. A firm also needs an approach to management itself that will harness the internal energies of the organization to the realization of its mission. Historically, views of strategy fall into two camps. There are those who equate strategy with planning. According to this perspective, information is gathered, sifted and analysed, forecasts are made, senior managers reflect upon the work of the planning department and decide what is the best course for the organization. This is a top-down approach to strategy. Others have a less structured view of strategy as being more about the process of management. According to this second perspective, the key strategic issue is to put in place a system of management that will facilitate the capability of the organization to respond to an environment that is essentially unknowable, unpredictable and, therefore, not amenable to a planning approach. We will consider both these views in this text. Our own view is that good strategic management actually encompasses elements of each perspective. Corporate strategy defines the markets and the businesses in which a company will operate. Competitive or business strategy defines for a given business the basis on which it will compete. Corporate strategy is typically decided in the context of defining the companys mission and vision, that is, saying what the company does, why it exists, and what it is intended to become. Competitive strategy hinges on a companys capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses in relation to market characteristics and the corresponding capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses of its competitors. According to Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School professor and the reigning guru of competitive strategy, competition within an industry is driven by five basic factors: Threat of new entrants. Threat of substitute products or services. Bargaining power of suppliers. Bargaining power of buyers. Rivalry among existing firms. Porter also indicates that, in response to these five factors, competitive strategy can take one of three generic forms: (1) focus, (2) differentiation, and (3) cost leadership. Business strategy focuses on how a company competes in a selected industry over markets. The core of the business strategy can be captured in to a question How should we compete? (Grant, 2005: 22-23). Thus, business strategy is closely related to the concept of competitive strategy (Porter, 1987), which is about creating competitive advantage in a chosen industry. Competitive strategy means choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value (Porter, 1996, 1987). Corporate strategy defines the breadth of the company in relation to an industry and markets, where it competes; it answers the question What business should we be in? (Grant, 2005: 22-23). According to Porter (1996), deciding which target group of customers, varieties, and needs the company should serve is fundamental in developing a strategy. Strategy can be neither formulated nor adjusted to changing circumstances without a process of strategy evaluation. Whether performed by an individual or as part of an organizational review procedure, strategy evaluation forms an essential step in the process of guiding an enterprise. For many executives strategy evaluation is simply an appraisal of how well a business performs. Has it grown? Is the profit rate normal? If the answers to these questions are affirmative, it is argued that the firms strategy must be sound. Despite its unassailable simplicity, this line of reasoning misses the whole point of strategy that the critical factors determining the quality of current results are often not directly observable or simply measured, and that by the time strategic opportunities or threats do directly affect operating results it may well be too late for an effective response. Thus strategy evaluation is an attempt to look beyond the obvious facts regarding the short-term health of a business and appraise instead those more fundamental factors and trends that govern success in the chosen field of endeavour. Strategic thinking has been much influenced by military thinking about the strategy hierarchy of goals, policies and programmes. Strategy itself sets the agenda for future action, strategic goals state what is to be achieved and when (but not how), policies set the guidelines and limits for permissible action in pursuit of the strategic goals, and programmes specify the step-by-step sequence of actions necessary to achieve major objectives and the timetable against which progress can be measured. A well defined strategy integrates an organizations major plans, objectives, policies and programmes and commitments into a cohesive whole. It marshals and allocates limited resources in the best way, which is defined by an analysis of a firms unique strengths and weaknesses and of opportunities and threats in the environment. It considers how to deal with the potential actions of intelligent opponents. A firm competes with a large number of other firms in the business environment. The firm has a two-fold objective. It has to attain its long-term goals in the most efficient manner. At the same time, the firm has to deliver higher value to its customer as compared to other competing firms to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. The roadmap consisting of a comprehensive plan towards achievement of the aforesaid objectives is known as organizational strategy. Strategy, in general, refers to how a given objective will be achieved. Consequently, strategy in general is concerned with the relationships between ends and means, that is, between the results we seek and the resources at our disposal. Strategy and tactics are both concerned with formulating and then carrying out courses of action intended to attain particular objectives. For the most part, strategy is concerned with deploying the resources at your disposal whereas tactics is concerned with employing them. Corporate identity merges strategy, culture, and communications to present a memorable personality to prospects and customers. The term is closely linked to corporate philosophy, the company s business mission and values, as well as corporate personality, the distinct corporate culture reflecting this philosophy, and corporate image. The main objective of corporate identity is to achieve a favourable image among the company s prospects and customers. When a corporation is favourably regarded this is likely to result in loyalty. If the corporate identity is the self-portrayal of a company, then the corporate image is the perception of an organization by the audience. The closer the corporate image is to the corporate identity; the closer the public s perception of a company is to how the company defines itself, making for superior corporate communication. For example, most companies have access to the same technology. If they want to further distinguish themselves, the strategy must rely on another factor than technology: the user experience. As the audience s focus changes constantly, corporate strategies must move in the same direction as the customer. Products are the most important spokespersons for any brand or company. Therefore, the key to defining your corporate identity resides in how well a company communicates its visions and values by means of the identity and image of its products, always keeping the target audience involvement in mind. There is no one best way of strategy. The planning approach can work in a stable, predictable environment. Its critics argue that such environments are becoming increasingly scarce, events make the plan redundant, creativity is buried beneath the weight and protocols of planning and communication rules. Furthermore, those not involved in devising the plan are never committed to its implementation. The second approach emphasizes speed of reaction and flexibility to enable the organization to function best in an environment that is fast-changing and essentially unpredictable. The essence of strategy, according to this view, is adaptability and incrementalism. This approach has been criticized for failing to give an adequate sense of where the organization is going and what its mission is. Critics speak disparagingly of the mushroom approach to management. (Place in a dark room, shovel manure/money on the seeds, close the door, wait for it to grow!) Inconsistency in strategy is not simply a flaw in logic. A key function of strategy is to provide coherence to organizational action. A clear and explicit concept of strategy can foster a climate of tacit co-ordination that is more efficient than most administrative mechanisms. Many high technology firms, for example, face a basic strategic choice between offering high-cost products with high custom-engineering content and lower-cost products that are more standardized and sold at higher volume. If senior management does not enunciate a clear, consistent sense of where the corporation stands on these issues, there will be continuing conflict between sales, design, engineering and manufacturing people. A clear, consistent strategy, by contrast, allows a sales engineer to negotiate a contract with a minimum of coordination the trade-offs are an explicit part of the firms posture.Rumelt (1988). A strategy is a set of objectives, policies and plans that, taken together, define the scope of the enterprise and its approach to business. Rumelt suggests that three questions are central to the challenge of strategy evaluation: Are the objectives of the business appropriate? Are the major policies and plans appropriate? Do the results obtained to date confirm or refute critical assumptions on which The strategy rests? He further suggests that strategy must satisfy four broad criteria: Consistency. The strategy must not present mutually inconsistent goals and policies. Consonance. The strategy must represent an adaptive response to the external environment and to the critical changes occurring within it. Advantage. Strategy must provide for the creation and/or maintenance of a competitive advantage in the selected area of activity. Feasibility. The strategy must neither overtax available resources nor create insoluble problems. Strategic management represents the collection of methods and approaches that are applicable to the regulation of regional development. This process can include the following: Defining the mission of the development of the region it depends on visions, values and expectations of the key implementing entities. Setting the strategic and performance objectives the objectives might comprise e.g. social development of regions, development of infrastructure, improvement of environmental aspects of the life of the local population, better territorial distribution of economic activities in the region etc. Formulating strategy (determining strategic alternatives, their evaluation assessment and selection) we seek to answer the question of how to meet the future objectives. Also essential is to use the results of both the external and internal environment analyses (situation analysis) Introducing and implementing the selected strategy (strategy implementation) this component is related to the further elaboration of regional development strategies into more detailed programs, measures and activities. The success of the strategy implementation depends to a certain degree on the motivation of all the stakeholders and apart from other things it is also associated with the level of culture in the community Evaluating results and proposing corrective measures (strategic control) it serves to ascertain the success rate of the selected strategy and also signals the necessary changes at whichever stage of its implementation. Basic requirement of this process is to increase competitive advantage of the regions in the long run. We can define the regional competitive advantage as the ability of the region to produce products and services, which will be able to compete on the international market, while securing and maintaining the incomes of its inhabitants. Managing risk at the organizational level is considered to be the key to the longterm survival of firms. According to Busman Van Zuiden (1998) there is a growing recognition that coordinating and financing all facets of organizational risk effectively is critical to maximizing success, whether that success is measured by shareholder value or, in the case of not-for-profit, educational or governmental institutions, by the range and quality of provided services (p. 14). Furthermore, the authors point out that because of the speed at which the organizations external business environment is constantly changing, managers are required to keep pace with this change through effective monitoring of the developments that increase the risk exposure of firms. Bibliography Bourgeois, L. J. (1980) Strategy and environment: A conceptual integration. Academy of Management Review, 5, 25-39. Bourgeois, L. J. (1981). On the measurement of organizational slack. Academy of Management Review, 6, 29-39. Busman, E. R., Zuiden, P. V. (1998). The challenge ahead: Adopting an enterprise wide approach to risk. Risk Management, 45(1), 14-17. Competitive Strategy (1986). Michael Porter. Harvard Business School Press. Chandler, A. D. (1962). Strategy and structure, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Dill, W. R. (1958). Environment as an influence on managerial autonomy. Administrative Science Quarterly, 2, 409-443. The Concept of Corporate Strategy, 2nd Edition (1980). Kenneth Andrews. Dow-Jones Irwin. Lawrence, P. R., Lorsch, J. (1967). Organization and environment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Jurkovich, R. (1974). A core typology of organizational environments. Administrative Science Quarterly, 3, 380-394. Olsen, M. D. (1980). The Importance of the environment to the food service and lodging manager. The Journal of Hospitality Education, 4(2), 35-45. Olsen, M. D., West, J. J., Tse, E. C. (1998). Strategic management in the hospitality industry, Boston: Wiley. Customer Intimacy and Other Value Disciplines. Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema. Harvard Business Review (Jan-Feb 1993). The Discipline of Market Leaders (1994). Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema. Addison Wesley. Jennings, D. F., Lumpkin J. R. (1992). Insights between environmental scanning activities and Porters generic strategies: An empirical analysis. Journal of Management, 18, 791-803. Miller, D. (1986). Configurations of strategy and structure: Towards a synthesis. Strategic

Increasing Rates of Child Malnutrition in India Essay -- world hunger

INTRODUCTION Malnutrition is a critical issue that affects children worldwide. Given that, the social determinants of health are defined as "the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system"(World Health Organization, 2009). These conditions are ''shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels"( World Health Organization, 2009). More generally, when dealing with the issue of child malnutrition, there are many leading factors that contribute to the issue. A basic definition of malnutrition is "lack of the minimum amount of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients essential for health and proper growth"(San Francisco Aids Foundation, 2009). Some social determinants of health factors that lead to child malnutrition can be a lack of nutrition, socio economic status, poor housing, food security, immunity and employment. The social determinants of health framework that will be examined to understand the issue of poverty is nutrition and socioeconomic status. A lack of nutrition can affect the child in its inability to grow to their full potential. Also, socioeconomic status is a very significant factor as one of the leading causes of malnutrition. Living in a third world country, like India, it is difficult to have a high socioeconomic status due little income, as well as people are not really educated to have good employment opportunities. In saying this, Henry Chu's Los Angeles Times article "India's gnawing pain; Almost hair the children are malnourished in a nation that touts its economic growth and sees itself as a rising power" discusses the socioeconomic factors, as well as the factor of nutrition whic... ..., because it would also benefit the economy in the future. Since the economy is rising in India, policies such as better health care and nutritional programmes should be in place. Acting on this issue immediately will result in a lower health costs for the children’s future. From a global perspective people are deprived from certain rights due to poverty. Children face many challenges to transition from a child to a young adult because their health is not taken into consideration. Later in life, children can have many complications that affect their mental health that will stay with them forever. Treatment needs to be done earlier in a child’s life so it does not affect their mental health in the future. In saying this, Chu's article elaborates on the effect of nutrition in children, but more policies are needed to ensure that children will be set for their futures.

Discipline in School Essay

Discipline is very important in a civilized life. Discipline can be defined as control over one’s desires and obedient’ to codes of behavior. If there is no discipline, there is confusion everywhere. Discipline is of great importance in school and at home. If there is no discipline in schools, it is not possible to imp education effectively. It is necessary to maintain law an order in the society. There should be discipline at home also. Children must be taught self-control. Parents themselves should keep discipline. Children should be taught the value discipline in childhood. A country cannot face extern wars if its armed forces are not disciplined . Unfortunately, there are not much discipline today schools, colleges and government offices. That is w India is facing many problems . Discipline is necessary for people in all walks folia Students studying in schools and colleges, Define personnel, industrial workers – all must have disciple Only then a nation can progress| A student needs to be very punctual to his routine. He should be very regular and sincere to his studies. He should be hard working. He should always be ready and active in various other extracurricular activities. He should remain active and smart. He should learn how to face difficult situations and how to win over them. A student is the future of the country. It is he who has to take the responsibility of the country. He should be healthy and fit. Physical education is as important for students as to be studious and sincere at studies. A student should always be in good health and fitness. For this he should get up early in the morning. He should take exercise daily. He should play game of his choice daily. It is well known that a healthy body has a healthy mind. He is mind will be strong and sharp only when he is physically strong, fit and healthy. The biggest task of a student is to study. A student should be very devoted and sincere to his studies. He should be very punctual. He should know the importance of time. He should regularly do his home work. He should have an urge to learn new things. He should have respect for his teachers and elders. He should be very cooperative with his friends. He should help the needy. Discipline demands self-control and dedication. One who cannot control himself cannot control others. He has to dedicate his individuality in the larger interest of society. Discipline is a virtue. It needs to be cultivated from early childhood. It cannot be developed overnight. It takes time and requires patience. When discipline is enforced, it fails to bring the desired result. True essence of discipline is lost when it is enforced . Student life is the formation period of life. The foundation of adulthood is laid down during the time. The man grows with the habits and manners acquired at that time. These things hardly change. So a student should be much disciplined in his student life. One who is disciplined raises high in life. Life of great men is examples of discipline. The great men have made mark in their lives, because they strictly follow their goals with all the earnestness and sincerity. So, we should try to be disciplined from the early stage of life. Both at school and at home they should be made to follow the rules of discipline. Parents, teachers and elders have significant role to play. A student should always learn good habits. This will lead to the formation of a good society and nation as well. |

Evolving Through Ignorance Essay

Socrates Cafe, a book written by Christopher Phillips that unfolds his story on facilitating lots of free discussion forum in a lot of different places. But what is Socrates Cafe itself? It is a place; a place for people who wonder, a place for people with different backgrounds to immerse their own self into questions and ideas and dogmas through Socratic Method. Phillips made an effort to revive the condition of what Socrates more than two millennia ago did in Athens. He went through a lot of hard time in order to establish this and to start this out of nothing, which includes abandoning his occupation as a journalist. In this essay I would like to peel in a deep more into one section of the book in which Philips cited Richard Tarnas belief. According to Richard Tarnas, Socrates believed that â€Å"the discovery of ignorance was just the beginning of the philosophical task†, not the end (201) [1]. People believe that being ignorant is a bad thing, as a human being we have to be conscious of everything we do and take responsibilities of our actions. How can we know that we are being ignorant? To discover about our own ignorance to certain things is a stepping-stone for us to improve ourselves, that’s what Socrates believed and I do agree with him. After we are conscious about our own ignorance, we can start to inquire our own self and dig deeper to overcome our assumption about what it takes to be a human being – that’s what philosophical task is about for me. Over the last 10 decades, the Earth average surface temperature has rose by 0. 8  ± 0. 2 ? C, especially over the last 5 decades, the rise had been significant [2]. This kind of improvement tends to create serious problem, globally, not only in particular place. What caused this global warming to happen? The answer is the inhabitants itself, humans had been more and more ignorant about what crisis they face, we know about the fact of this but we choose to ignore it. We don’t accept the fact that we are being ignorant and we believe that we are not. The dominant mechanism of this issue is anthropogenic and mostly the result of human activities. Human increases the atmospheric concentrations of human gases through their industrial wastes. More than hat, we made a global change to the land surface such as deforestation, in order to make more fields for construction. We are being ignorant about what’s happening and continue to fulfill our needs, we are being greedy. So, what can we do in order to overcome this problem? The answer is to discover what we are being ignorant at, just as what Socrates believe as the start of philosophical t ask. By accepting the fact that we are so ignorant about our current condition we can start to make a move to overcome this condition that potentially will be the root of serious problem and make our way towards a better future. For me, the biggest obstacle for this is to overcome our tendency to pursue our goal without thinking about the risks, we tend to think laconically, not being able to imagine about the cause of our action and the impact to our surroundings. We were blinded by the prospect of our goals and its profit and when the problem rises we hide our hands, it’s an ill wind for me to see such an occasion. We ensconce under our own thought that we are doing the right thing whereas in fact we aren’t. In one way, we tried to establish something that contributes to the society but we are also down falling it. It will be better if we can do something while we are not damaging our environment before it’s too late. There’s no time like the present. I think it’s even worse when people aren’t ignorant of certain things and yet still act with ignorance,† John finally offers, â€Å"For instance, when a racist continues to be a racist, yet is aware of the reasons why he’s a racist – perhaps he’s even aware that his racism is illogical because he knows damn well that all of us are 99. 9 percent genetically identical – then that’s even more scary than when people are racist out of sheer ignorance. (204) [3] I have a many more examples about the impact of feigning ignorance and how scary it is. In my home country, there are still a lot of people living in urban slums. The government notices about this but they are not taking any action, because they think they wouldn’t be able to fix this because it’s too severe and widely spread. In my city, over one-fourth of the total citizen live in slums [4] and that’s not a number we can ignore. We really can’t ignore this kind of thing and the government really needs to take actions, instead of being ignorant. Through philosophical inquiry they can get the answers to this problem, and that’s why they need to discover and admit their ignorance before they can start the long journey to fix this. One of the biggest factor and something that has never been able to be resolved from time to time is the corruption in Indonesia. The percentage of corruption in the government reach a peak number of 91% [5] and that’s way too high compared to another countries. I can’t believe that we are still holding on with the 10% leftover from what’s not corrupted to manage the country. Just imagine if the government can eradicate the corruption culture, we would have 10 times of what we have now for our country formation and it would be amazing because we can solve a lot of problems from that. It’s a bigger ignorance if we close our eyes to this. And yes, the government had already established a corruption eradication commission, but they aren’t fruitful and the problem is still there. I think there’s corruption in the commission itself because they are not doing their job well and that makes it a corruption inside a corruption eradication commission, that’s way too ridiculous for me and it’s so hard to accept it. We’ll need a leader that can lead the country to the right path in his honesty and his desire to remove corruption in our country, the one that can reveal how chronic the level of ignorance in the government is. In fact, before I even have a chance to respond, a woman whose booming voice belies her diminutive stature, says â€Å"I don’t think we have a right to be ignorant. I think we have a responsibility to constantly educate ourselves, to make ourselves less ignorant. (201) [6] Quoting it from Socrates Cafe, I wouldn’t agree with her statement about we are not having the right to be ignorant since we actually do. As a human, we have freedom to do whatever we want to do – it’s our own life. What matters is the consequences of our actions, if you choose not to constantly educate yourselves and responsibly develop your talents then you have to shoulder the risks by yourself. You will be getting more and more outdated and you won’t be able to compete with those people who responsibly develop their talents. Socrates was fully aware of his own self – there’s one of his paradox that strikes me, â€Å"I only know that I know nothing†. He never claimed that he’s wise, he knew that there will always be spaces to improve as long as you breathe. Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance†, according to Will Durant Quoted from his Book: The Great Gadfly†, Time magazine, 8 October 1965 (review of The Age of Voltaire by Will and Ariel Durant). There’s no end to our education, we will progressively and continually discover new things over time if we are doing it in a right way. Through ignorance we evolve – we thrive and mature through ignorance. The more we realize that we are lacking in lots of aspects, the more we will be able to see the potential in us. Look. And think. Then look some more. And think some more. Don’t ever stop looking, or thinking† (206) [7]. We have to see the world in many perspectives, and be conceptual – there’s no way that we can learn about something in one go. Doing so will mislead us to misconception and prevent us to think creatively, our creativity will be restricted by our own belief – instead, we have to dive deep into it and broaden our knowledge about it by doing some research so that we can analyze and understand more complicated and abstract ideas. That is one of the reason on why we have to be conscious about our own ignorance and start our own Socratic Inquiry, to be a better person – and to get a better understanding about what it takes to be an entity that will never stop to learn and to grow exponentially. Discover your own ignorance and make it a foundation on building your blocks of life – always think about what changes can you bring to your own life and what do you have to do in order to achieve that – then start your progress enthusiastically so that when death draws near you will know that you are living your life to the fullest and have no regret.

Explain how governments are attempting to overcome the problems of rapid urbanisation

Urbanisation is the rapid movement of people from rural areas into urban areas. This generally occurred in MEDC's in the mid 19th Century, and is currently occurring in LEDC's. Urbanisation has many negative effects on a city, these can include deindustrialisation, housing problems, ethnic minority groups and poor quality of life. Deindustrialisation is the movement of manufacturing industries away from inner city areas. New technologies which start up in the area require a smaller work force. This leads to unemployment. What jobs are available are split into two jobs with half the wage, this leads to under employment where people can barely afford to live. The housing problems which become associated with urbanisation are mostly overcrowding, where there are more than one person per room in the house, and the other many problem is that there are many more owner occupancy housing, and these tend to be situated away from the inner areas. Those people who cannot afford to buy properties are forced to rely on smaller and declining council rented houses. In LEDC's the new migrated population tend to build up temporary housing areas around the city, these are called different things in different places; Brazils call them favelas, in Peru they are called barricades, Mexicans call them colonias proletarias and in India they are called bustees. Discrimination against ethnic minorities in both employment and housing opportunities often leave these people trapped in the inner cities. In general ethnic minorities live in wards which are even more deprived than the average Unemployment amongst ethnic minorities are almost always higher than the rate among the white population and ethnic minorities suffer higher rates of overcrowding. Quality of life criteria have been used to highlight the substandard housing, educational disadvantage, ill-health, deprivation and poor environments (e.g. pollution). The residential populations typically include those least able to move such as the elderly and recent immigrants. A number of policies have been introduced to try to reduce the problems of inner-cities, these include; gentrification, conservation and rehabilitation and central government policies. Gentrification is the term used to describe the improvement of old buildings usually by private investment. The external of the appearance of the building is restored to its original quality and the interior is modernised. Gentrification can involve housing directly, like the Georgian terraces of London, another example is the Docklands Development Scheme where old factories or warehouses have been converted into houses. By providing high quality accommodation in areas where the environment has also been improved, in this way investment is drawn into the inner city areas. Conservation and rehabilitation involves the wide spread clearance of old terraced housing and replacement with high-rise flats, or by modernising the old houses to make them more suitable for people to live in. In Birmingham 75,000 houses were involved in the new housing scheme. The high-rise flats solution are thought to have failed because of the disruption to community life and the difficulty that living in flat can create. Central government policies have aimed to stimulate economic development and improve the urban environment so that new investment is drawn into the area. These policies include grants enterprising zones and city action teams. The London Docklands Development Corporation started a massive project in redesigning the Docklands, they built the light railway the city airport, new housing areas and new industrial opportunities. Much redevelopment has taken place in Salford Docks, in Manchester, where hotels, houses, factories, warehouses and a leisure complex have all been added to the Dockland area. In conclusion, urbanisation has caused many problems in both MEDC's and LEDC's, the governments of these areas have been trying to counteract these problems by reversing them or slowing them down. The solutions are often expensive but have many positive effects to the area. The aims of these policies are to improve the quality of life for the people in the inner city areas and to provide better opportunities for them. Many of these solutions have provided these results.

Case study 4-4 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

4-4 - Case Study Example Whoever provided the wrong test results (A+) should be held responsible for carrying out lousy work, furthermore, the hospital management, in general, should be held responsible to curb future lousiness (Welcome to Advances in Medical Ethics). On the other hand, the ROI (Release of Information) coordinator could have ordered a medical officer to carry out a re-do of Martha’s blood type to obtain a valid blood type and request for a correct re-entry of her medical record rather than maintaining that the legal document could not be changed. The Health Information Management director (HIM) could have been following protocol as stipulated by management yet I support a professional approach to taking the tests again and request for a re-entry of her medical data (Welcome to Advances in Medical Ethics). The directive to obtain a court order via an attorney to make amendments to patient’s records should be done away with because it takes the patient through a whole lot longer process rather than just re-doing the tests and correcting their mistakes in the first place. Martha’s actions, however, were absolutely logical and

Compare and contrast Herbert Hoover's economic policies with those of Essay

Compare and contrast Herbert Hoover's economic policies with those of Franklin Roosevelt - Essay Example aissez-faire attitude was due to beliefs that: the government should not be entirely responsible to the well-being of the people; and the government is incapable of regulating and controlling businesses.3 Hoover’s beliefs were partly due to the belief that the economy would be able to bounce back after several setbacks just like before, but these were unable to explain why decreases in costs of production did not allow the fall of prices and subsequent economic growth, and Hoovers’ policies on letting the market forces, private sector as well as the Federal Reserve to drive the economy was unable to stimulate employment.4 The downward economic spiral was aggravated further by the declining federal revenues, relying on the gold standard when it was already abandoned by other countries, and declining to spend and providing federal relief to people and wholly relying on local government and charity. Franklin Roosevelt also had to deal with some similar setbacks such as dealing with deflation, preventing wages and prices from falling further to maintain the incomes of workers and employers as well as restoring the reliability of the banking system.5 Some of the New Deal programs were effective in stimulating spending and eventually raising the levels of commerce among the people. Roosevelt’s experimentalist views were able to push through some policies that Hoover might have not even thought of, such as expanding the role of the government in the business and economic sectors, departure from the gold standard, aiming to increase industrial and farm price levels, and the provision for income redistribution, which became the Social Security legislation.6However, while being effective in reviving the economy, some of the programs in the New Deal policy were counterproductive in some strategies. The employment of people by the government kept them earning, and the increase in wages may have increased the spending of the workforce, but the tax increase compelled some